UPS Shipping

[locost_adam]

Now that I think of it this has been mentioned before, but I wanted to repeat it to my Canadian (and anyone else shipping from the US to somewhere else):
DO NOT USE UPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ordered my lights, seatbelts and fender trim from Speedway - excellent price and service. UPS shipping from the US to Canada <$20. Woo Hoo

Frigging UPS brokerage charges >$90 No longer a deal

[mookie]

I feel your pain. I simply won't ship with them anymore. I will ask for USPS, but if a supplier is stuck on UPS, they won't get my money.

I has been said here before, but a reminder never hurts.

[firebat45]

I just got a clutch disk shipped by them (absolutely no other choice, I hate using them too!). GST = $4.XX. Brokerage = $48.XX. Apparently it's much better if you go with the next service level up, brokerage fees are included.

EDIT - Saw you ordered something from Speedway. When I got my coilovers from them I think I was able to ship it USPS? I remember GST and brokerage being $24, and that was spending over $500 on the coilovers and some misc stuff.

[Jawfish]

Yhea I know how you guys feel...

At the beggining I ended up picking a box at a Mail box etc... across the border.... I made up my time, gas and box rental in just a few shipments...

Now I have a local Auto parts store that can get me anything I need and he often comes in cheaper. He's got all my business as I can now return things without any issues.

Cheers,

Fred

[firebat45]

If I was anywhere near the border I'd definitely have a PO box on the other side. Not feasible for me though, it's a good 8 hours away.

[john hennessy]

if you want to order from jegs, with free shipping, they may add a shipping charge for fed ex and ups of $2.50

[Driven5]

And yet there are people here in the states that believe we should just get rid of that 'socialist' USPS experiment entirely and let UPS/Fed-Ex have their way with the American people...But then again there are people in America that will believe a lot of things.

[Locost_Johnh]

If you don't like the mind control, don't take off your tinfoil hat! Or do we just do that in California?

[modernbeat]

From someone that ships thousands of packages a year through both UPS and USPS Priority services, both domestically and internationally, UPS wins.

Sorry it cost so much. But in the last six months UPS has temporarily lost one package that they eventually found and delivered and damaged one package that they paid for quickly. Packages arrive on time and are tracked at every step of the way. And they pick up and drop off when they should. The UPS website has been down or slow ONCE in the last six months.

USPS "tracks" their packages, but they often don't update them after picking them up and then once again a few days after delivering them. Packages don't arrive on time. They get stuck in customs for WEEKS. They disappear, never to be seen again. And try to file an insurance claim against them... And they don't always pick up or drop off every day. The USPS site has been slow or down DOZENS of days in the last six months and for the last three weeks has been horrible since they introduced their redesigned site.

Tell me you'd rather save the $1.50 in shipping domestically? I'd say you don't know what you are buying. And UPS charges about half what USPS cost to ship to Canada. Those brokerage charges you bitch about? The majority of them are MANDATED taxes charged by Canada that you're supposed to be paying no matter who delivers your stuff. I spend more time every week sorting out USPS screwups and no time on UPS shipments.

So. From MY perspective, UPS wins and USPS can go to hell.

[SkinnyG]

UPS charges a ~brokerage~fee~ to bring items across the border for us. The taxes have to be paid regardless if it's shipped UPS, USPS, FedEx, Greyhound or Camelback. But UPS's ~brokerage~ fee is not mandated by Canada. And on ~our~ end, anything shipped UPS costs us MORE than other methods. We are not bitching about taxes. Or at least shouldn't be.

You have the right to ship whatever way you prefer. I have the right to request something that works more affordably for me.

I have never lost anything shipped to me via USPS.

I have never lost anything I've shipped or had shipped to me via Canada Post. Ever. ~Ever~.

I might just be lucky.

I am close enough to the US border that I try to have items shipped to a receiving company and I bring them across myself. The savings in shipping alone more than offsets the 5 hours round trip plus the colon exam coming back into Canada. And I'm ~always~ harassed more by the Canadian border than I am the US border. Odd.

[Warren Nethercote]

Skinny G,

Exactly.

I haven't actually figured out how the UPS brokerage fee is calculated, but it seems to be about 10 percent of shipment value. Canada Post's brokerage fee, when charged, is a flat $5. The only good example I've seen of UPS to Canada is shipment from Tire Rack, who collect Canadian taxes at source, and then UPS seems to treat the shipment like a domestic one.

I have had a couple of non-car USPS/Canada Post shipments (valued at $300 and $80 odd) and one Kinetic shipment (of Britax tail lights) where Canada Post (hopefully with Revenue Canada blessing) has simply decided that no taxes (or brokerage) were due ... and in each of these cases the shipment was declared as 'merchandise', not as a phony 'gifts'.

(PS: On reflection, our American friends should realise that everyone needs to complain about something: they seem to focus on big government while we choose UPS. )

[Driven5]

From someone that ships thousands of packages a year through both UPS and USPS Priority services, both domestically and internationally, UPS wins.

That all might be true for one of their business/preferred type customers with dedicated shipping accounts and discounted pricing...But for people that don't have that luxury, UPS isn't nearly as good. I stopped shipping via UPS and Fed-Ex whenever possible after running into similar problems with large items shipped within the US where I would calculate the shipping price on-line based on reasonably accurate (usually rounding up if any doubt) dimensions and weight, get money from the buyer, take it in to ship it, and then have them charge me $30 more than their online calculator showed. So instead if I can't ship it USPS, I have to lug it in every damn time I want them to accurately quote shipping of an item to a different zip code. Too deceptive and too much hassle if there is any way for me to avoid it. USPS on the other hand has been pretty much spot on with their online shipping price calculations, so even if their online calculation shows a few bucks more I have confidence that it's accurate...And while I ship very limited quantities of items, I have never had them lose a package.

[SkinnyG]

I haven't actually figured out how the UPS brokerage fee is calculated

I'm not even sure UPS knows how the brokerage fee is calculated.

[carguy123]

I have nothing to add about the brokerage fees because I've never experienced them, but I do have some UPS adds.

UPS has given me more grief than any other shipper out there.

I had DAZZ ship me a set of rims - 3 times - and not once did they arrive whole. They were pushed out the side of the boxes and every set had at least 3 of the rims arrive bent. IT TAKES A LOT OF FORCE TO BEND A RIM! I've got video of the rims but I found out I can't attach it. We aren't talking minor issues, we're talking after a crash type of issues.

They throw things around and even at my office they come to the door and literally throw what they are delivering down on the ground and walk away.

There's bound to be more choices than just UPS & USPS for Canadia, isn't there?

[Warren Nethercote]

I used to find FedX better for shipments from the US into Canada, but their advantage seems to have disappeared since they adopted UPS-scale brokerage charges. USPS is better than UPS or FedX for the Canadian 'individual' addressee in my experience - but watch out for USPS shipments from Summit who ship through a third party broker who collects Canadian taxes at source (which is convenient) but then doesn't provide a tax breakdown so you can show the registrar of motor vehicles that taxes have beeen paid.

A friend (again, the Birkin guy) has a UPS account at his business and has discovered that the UPS brokerage fees are VERY much smaller for shipments to his business address on his business UPS account than when shipped to his home address. I don't know if there is a minimum business volume requirement associated with that lower receiving cost for a Canadian business, vice an individual. So if you have a Canadian business friend with a UPS account, how much beer would it take to drop ship there? But check on what be typically pays for brokerage first: my info is second hand.